Connecticut Whale 5, Springfield Falcons 2
By Brian Ring
Hartford, CT, December 31, 2011 - The Connecticut Whale defeated the Springfield Falcons, 5-2, Saturday night at the XL Center in a New Years’ Eve match-up. Francois Bouchard had three assists for Connecticut, Kris Newbury scored twice and Pavel Valentenko had the game-winner and an assist for the Whale.
The win over the Falcons improved Connecticut to a perfect 5-0-0-0 record against Springfield this season.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander. “But you’ve got to continually get better as the season goes on.”
The Whale got on the board first, as Newbury tipped a Tim Erixon shot from the point past Springfield goaltender Manny Legace (29 saves). The goal gave Newbury a Whale season-high seven game point-scoring streak, over which he has gathered 15 points (4-11-15).
Tomas Kubalik tied the game for Springfield just 1:20 later, beating Whale goaltender Cam Talbot (23 saves) on a breakaway. Kubalik

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